Daniel Suárez 0.003 second margin of victory becomes third-closest NASCAR finish ever

An instant classic that we will talk about for years. Daniel Suárez earns the win in Atlanta with the third-closest margin of victory. Rarely do you see a NASCAR race come down to a margin this thin, and tonight they were three-wide at the finish.

Ryan Blaney had the lead on the final lap and then a huge run came from the middle and outside with Kyle Busch and Suárez. Those runs were good enough to get side-by-side with Blaney and challenge him for the win.

Coming off Turn 4, it was hard to tell who would come out on top. In fact, they had to go to the cameras and digital timing. By a margin of 0.003 seconds, Daniel Suárez pulled off the unthinkable, improbable victory.

OFFICIAL: The margin of victory was 0.003 seconds.

That is the third-closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history. pic.twitter.com/u8EosDiXVX

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 26, 2024

To put this into context, Suárez beat Busch, the third-place car, by 0.007 seconds. Razor-thin margins and quite possibly the best finish and race of the Next Gen era. Trackhouse Racing has a knack for the improbable.

Ross Chastain Hail Melon at Martinsville. Shane van Gisbergen winning in his Cup Series debut at Chicago. Now, Daniel Suárez by mere inches over two Cup Series champions to steal the win at Atlanta. The 99 team is headed back to the NASCAR Playoffs this season, too.

The Trackhouse takeover of NASCAR continues.

Daniel Suárez wins instant classic at Atlanta

At times in this race, it felt like Kyle Busch had it wrapped up. There were also runs from Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland in the lead. Ryan Blaney showed speed. However, Daniel Suárez had a relatively quiet day.

While there were a ton of cautions in this race, it didn’t detract from the great racing. Drivers like Chase Elliott were in multiple incidents and kept on going. However, he eventually got turned around one too many times to keep pace with the leaders and finished P15.

Suárez was leading on a late restart, but it felt like he just appeared in the front. There are times when the battle of attrition is the way to earn the checkered flag and that was tonight.

Seeing three Cup Series drivers drag race down the front stretch at Atlanta for the win – that’s just pure adrenaline only NASCAR can provide. If you didn’t like that finish, you just don’t like racing. Daniel Suárez gets his second career Cup victory and his first on an oval.